Tim Burton Taking Over MoMA

Quirky goth director Tim Burton will be debuting some of his work at New York's Museum of Modern Art this fall. Opening in November, the eponymous exhibition will showcase the director's 27-year career with everything from his pen and ink sketches of Edward Scissorhands to watercolor paintings from The Nightmare Before Christmas. More than 700 rare examples of his work will be on display from November 22, 2009, through April 26, 2010. Though Burton's body of work is impressive, he was surprised to know that the MOMA was interested in displaying his work. "I didn't grow up in a real museum culture," Burton said at a press conference Wednesday. "I think I went to the Hollywood Wax Museum as my first museum ... I was of that generation where I got more out of The Beverly Hillbillies than Monet."

I’ll bet I’m not alone in my delight that Burton’s getting his artistic due; the exhibition will include never-before-seen paintings, drawings, photographs, storyboards, puppets, costumes, and a film series, with the first public showing of his student and early nonprofessional films. From November 18–30, full-length features will be screened too, including Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Sweeney Todd. If you like his animation, you’ll be happy to know that there will also be original puppets from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, in addition to severed-head props from Mars Attacks! and costumes from Batman Returns and Sleepy Hollow. For now, Burton is enjoying choosing the items that will be on display. “Every now and then, and since I had never done it, it’s good to kind of go back and reconnect with yourself,” he told reporters yesterday. “It kind of re-energizes you and connects you and gets the nerve-endings going again.”